It's all about who you know and there is validity to the 6 degrees of separation theory. As a recruiter I rely on candidate referrals. Most of my searches are for extremely hard (if not almost impossible) to fill positions with companies on the bleeding edge of technology. Here are some of my thoughts and ramblings... who do YOU know?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Whew… just finished my very first video chat on Facebook. Glad that’s over. I couldn’t get out of that chat room fast enough. Sorry Gail for leaving you hanging. I’m not usually the nervous type but working with technology and all the hiccups we’ve been having lately, I was expecting the worst. Thankfully all the technology worked just fine… it was me that had the “technical difficulties”.

I can sit and write forever… give great advice, respond to questions and actually sound moderately intelligent, because of the ability to edit before sending. Unfortunately my mouth doesn’t have an edit filter and I tend to blurt out the first thing that enters my pretty little head. So if you were on the chat today, hopefully you enjoyed the presentation and could appreciate my slightly warped sense of humor. My apologies if anyone was offended. I promise to do better next time… if I’m ever asked to do it again.

If you missed the chat, the slides will be uploaded on slideshare.net and here is my Top Ten List:

#10. We receive an email with the subject line: “do you have any job openings?”
#9. We receive a resume for a candidate asking us “what do you think of my resume?”
#8. The resume is full of spelling and grammatical errors and has an inappropriate email address.
#7. We receive an email with no resume attached or no contact information.
#6. The candidate applied to over 20 jobs in the database in all different disciplines.
#5. The candidate will not disclose current or last salary.
#4. The candidate becomes angry with denied an interview.
#3. The request is to “meet for a cup of coffee” to discuss openings at your company.
#2. The candidate clearly doesn’t meet the minimum requirements of the job.
#1. This is your LinkedIn profile picture:

Monday, January 03, 2011

It’s Sunday, January 2, 2011 and I’m sitting in my living room looking at all my Christmas decorations thinking… this is really going to take a lot of time and effort to put all these away, and today is the best time for me to do this since it’s back to work tomorrow. My next thought is… so what else can I do to procrastinate? I know… I’ll write my New Year’s Resolutions for 2011!

Now I have long since abandoned personal New Year’s resolutions so this posting will be dedicated to my professional endeavors to make myself a better recruiter. I will try and keep it short and succinct. (My recruiting Jedi master will admonish me for that last statement… Do or do not, there is no try.) Anyway, here is the list:

1. I will answer all my emails… yes all of them.

2. The priority and job appropriate emails will be responded to within 24 hours and the courtesy emails within 72 hours. (OK, realistically 120 hours… but no more than 5 days.)

3. I will enter all my candidates into the database, completely filling in all the fields and attaching a new copy of their resume and ALL notes.

4. I will keep all of my submitted candidates informed of their status within 72 hours of submission… even if it is just to apprise them there is no feedback from the hiring manager.

5. Once I receive an open requisition, I will submit at least 3 qualified candidates within 7 working days.

6. I will proactively source candidates in anticipation of future needs and have them packaged and ready to go when new requisitions are open.

7. I will accomplish these goals in a timely manner that will not interfere with my personal activities and time allotted to my family and friends. 8. Oh, and I almost forgot… I will finish writing and post my blogs the day I begin them. And post a minimum of 2 blogs each and every month.

Just how long do you think it will take for me to break these resolutions? Would any of you analytics professionals out there like to help me create a test? The Vegas money has the odds at 5 to 1 for three weeks. Personally, my money is on the length of time it takes my naturally red hair to lose its fiery, copper red sheen… typically between 4-6 weeks.

In the interim, and just for grins, I’d like to know how long you think it will take and/or how long it usually takes you to break your New Year’s resolutions. Please complete this survey… we can all have a good laugh next month.